Kurama
Yoko Kurama (妖狐蔵馬, lit. Yōko Kurama; in the English dub, Kurama the Yoko), also known as Shuichi Minamino (南野秀一, Minamino Shūichi), is a main character in the anime series YuYu Hakusho. Voiced by Megumi Ogata (Shūichi) and Shigeru Nakahara (Yoko) in the original Japanese and John Burgmeier in the FUNimation English dub.Wikipedia.Org List of YuYu Hakusho characters, Kurama Appearance In his human form, Kurama has bright green eyes, as well as long and vibrant-red hair, with two segments on either shoulder and the rest on his back. He often wears his school uniform. While in this form, he is occasionally mistaken for being a woman. While in his demon-fox (yoko) form, he has golden eyes, prominent silver fox ears, as well as a silver tail and long, silver hair. He wears a toga and martial arts shoes. Personality Kurama is perhaps the most calculating, cunning, and analytical member in the series and of the main characters. He is able to carefully look past his feelings and see the real situation at hand, demonstrated on more than one occasion. In battle, while his preference is to concoct strategems based on deducing his opponents abilities, he is quite cutthroat when the need arises. He is capable of slashing another person's head off in just an instant, relying only on impulse. However, his care for his friends and his love for his family are the backbone of his fighting drive, as he will sacrifice just about anything to protect them. In the face of adversity, Kurama has the uncommon ability to shun all emotions and shine a blank slate, thinking three to four steps ahead to clutch the pinch and seize control of the situation. Coupled with his vast intelligence, his detached emotional state is perhaps his greatest asset. Despite his physical appearance, Kurama has very high durability, shown in almost all of his matches. Because of his analyzation lenience, he his always the most injured in his fights, but manages to pull a trick out of his hat to decide the match. As Yoko Kurama, he is much more cruel, vindictive, and merciless, retaining all of his intellectual capabilities. He enjoys toying with his enemies, as shown in the semi-final rounds of the Dark Tournament, and in his fight against Karasu. Later on in the series, he is able to access this form of himself and its powers without the age regression technique of Uraurashima and adopt his personality traits to a higher degree. Kurama is on good terms with Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei. He is more closely related with Yusuke and Hiei, because the former saved his life and his human mother's by willing offering his own, and the latter because they were once, and still are "partner's in crime". He also has a tendency to think for both futures, one that may or may not be, because he believes that nothing is ever certain and that you must be prepared. Character Relationships *'Yusuke Urameshi - Partner-Good Friend' *'Kazuma Kuwabara - Ally/Good Friend' *'Hiei - Major Ally/Good Friend' *'Shiori Minamino - Mother' History Kurama was once a powerful fox-demon, Yoko, who was classified as an A-class demon. While it could be argued, it has been said throughout the series, that he was mortally wounded by Spirit World's Elite Soldiers or by Yomi's hitman, and was forced to retreat to the human world. He implanted his soul into Shiori Minamino's unborn child. He only planned on staying in the human world long enough to regain his energy, but he hadn't planned on loving his human mother. He stayed, so as not to hurt her, and because he truly cared for her. As he grew up, his mother grew ill, forcing him to join forces with Hiei and another demon, to steal from Spirit World to receive an artifact capable of saving his mother's life. His life was spared, in the process of sacrificing it, by Yusuke's willigness to sacrifice himself to save Kurama and his mother. Afterward, he was on a spiral into a debt with Urameshi. Synopsis Spirit Detective Saga After he, Gouki, and Hiei steal the three artifacts from spirit world, Kurama tells them he must leave their alliance. Hiei is initially furious, and chases after Kurama when he leaves at the sudden appearance of Yusuke. He later shows up when Yusuke defeats Gouki, asking Yusuke for a meeting. Despite Botan's warning, Yusuke agrees to go.Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 22, Page 4 Kurama takes Yusuke to a hospital, where they meet his mother. Yusuke is confused why a demon could have a human mother, and why he would care so much for her. Kurama explains his past, and his mother's sickness. He feels that he somehow caused it, by putting her through emotion pain. Suddenly, a nurse asks Kurama to come back inside, where his mother's doctor tells him she only has a few hours to live. Kurama activates the artifact, the Forlorn Hope, which would grant him one wish.Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 22, Page 7 However, this would come at the cost of his life. Yusuke urges him to stop, then asks the mirror to take his life instead. Luckily, the mirror grants the wish without sacrifice because of Yusuke's compassion (or in the English manga and Japanese version the mirror only took half of the life force from both Yusuke and Kurama to fulfill the wish) . Kurama wakes up and quickly leaves to go see if his mother is alright, which she is.Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 22, Page 18 Hiei battles Yusuke next, and in his Jagan form, nearly kills the Spirit Detective. However, Kurama steps in the path of Hiei's sword, then uses his blood to blind his original third eye, crippling his powers. He then uses his power to stop Keiko from becoming a demon. After a surprising spirit gun that bounces off the Forlorn Hope, Botan inquires how Yusuke knew to do that. He replies it was spur of the moment thinking, leading Kurama to laugh. When the Saint Beasts infect Human World with Makai insects, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke go to the Demon City to stop them. Kurama faces the beast, Genbu, and unleashes his rose whip technique for the first time. He defeats the beast, only for him to reconstitute his broken body. Kurama feels his energy's center and destroys it, then using the rose whiplash to disperse him. While Yusuke is sent to rescue the ice apparition, Yukina, Kurama is working in spirit world for Koenma. They both worry for Hiei, because Yukina is his sister, and he would surely have killed her kidnapper, getting him arrested. Kurama leaves to find Hiei, and witnesses, for the first time, Hiei sparing his opponent. He then comments that he didnt need to come. Dark Tournament Saga In the preliminaries, Kurama fought the member of Team Rokuyukai, Roto, who threatened to hurt his mother if he did not forfeit. However, Kurama turned the tables by killing him before he could get the chance. Later, against Team Masho, Kurama fought Gama, a demon obsessed with make-up. He manages to win, but Gama's curses laid on Kurama's body keeps him from moving, as well as sealing in his energy. This makes the next match against Toya difficult. The first curse wears off and Kurama is able to move, but Toya has the upper hand because Kurama's energy is still sealed. Last minute, Kurama plants the death seed in his body, which sprouts a plant that nearly kills Toya. The ordeal leaves him unconscious, but still standing, so he is faced against Bakken. He is nearly killed by the demon, but their leader, Risho, stops him from attacking so that Yusuke wouldn't kill him. In a short fight against Ura Urashima, Ura unleashes a box that is supposed to regress his opponent's age to that of a baby. However, the affect differs for Kurama and he is instead turned back into his Yoko form. After Suzuka's defeat, he gives Kurama a potion that would transform him into the form. During the finals, Kurama faces Karasu, whose ability manipulates the intangible world. Kurama had taken the potion a few minutes before the match, so he became Yoko and nearly killed Karasu using a plant that could track movement. However, Karasu survives and Kurama returns to normal. Only by making Karasu bleed and then unleashing a blood-thirsty plant is he able to kill Karasu. Chapter Black Saga After the tournament ended, Kurama resumed his normal life, going back to Meiou High School. When Yusuke is kidnapped, a letter tells Botan and Kuwabara to go to Kurama's school and find him so that they may retrieve their friend. After finding Hiei as well, they go to the house where Yusuke was being held only to open the door and find Yu Kaito waiting for them. When Kuwabara, Hiei, and Botan souls are taken in by Kaito's power of taboo, Kurama is the last shred of hope to defeat Kaito at his game and gain back the souls of his friends. Upon Kurama defeating Kaito by making him laugh, the souls were retrieved and they go up the flight of stairs to find Yusuke. Once it was revealed that Genkai was behind the ruse, it is shown that there is a new threat of a hole to demon world opening. The next day, the group divided into two, with Kurama leading the group looking for the hole at Demon's Door Cave. Upon discovering the underground hole, Kurama then heads back to put the groups together and report it to Koenma. The following day, Kurama does not show up at Yusuke's house because he decides to pay Koenma a visit, believing that he may know more than he's telling their team. When it shows that Kurama's allegations are indeed true, it is then revealed that the leader is Shinobu Sensui, a former Spirit Detective. When Sensui arrives at Yusuke's house to kidnap Kuwabara in order to have Gourmet eat Kuwabara's Dimensional Sword, the group then meets up at Demon's Door Cave. When entering the cave, Amanuma's (Game Master's) power has been activated, making Goblin City true to life. After everyone has taken their turn competing against him, Kurama was the one who had to face Amanuma at the end of the game. It is here that Kurama had no choice but to reveal to Amanuma that Sensui was merely using him to stall for time and it is part of his plan that Amanuma will die. By doing so, Kurama distracted him from performing well in the final level and managed to allow the group to go on to face Sensui, despite the death of Amanuma in the process. Kurama was then riddled with guilt, however faced Gourmet upon reaching the cave. It is then that Kurama uses his Rose Whip to reveal that Elder Toguro had not only survived the Dark Tournament but was eaten by Gourmet and then took over his body. Kurama then uses a smoke screen to not only hide the fact that he had planted the seed of the Sinning Tree on Gourmet (Elder Toguro), but also as a way of spurring the growth of this particular plant. But after Itsuki traps Kurama, Hiei, Mitarai, and Kuwabara within the Uraotoko, a long discussion ensues as they watch Sensui and Yusuke clash. There, Kurama realizes not only the existence of Sensui's other personalities, but also what Yusuke intended to do upon realizing the power of Sensui's Sacred Energy. When Yusuke dies, and Kuwabara finally cuts the Uraotoko open with his newly-realized Dimension Sword, he, as well as Kurama and Hiei, chase Sensui to Demon World. There, at a confrontation upon the Plateau of the Beheaded near the Forest of Fools, the three of them are completely trounced by Sensui's Sacred Energy Armor. After Yusuke's resurrection and arrival in Demon World, all Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Koenma, can do is watch as the two of them clash. After the battle against Sensui ended, Kurama and the rest of the group return to human world. Three Kings Saga In the Saga of the Three Kings, Kurama is called on by Yomi, his former partner when he was still a thief in Makai. Kurama's internal struggles become more apparent in this saga because of the two different aspects of himself: the human that he is when he fights alongside Yusuke and his companions, and the yoko. At this point, wherein he relives most of his past, his old personality is somewhat predominant, as it seems that he is becoming more and more like his old self, before he came to human world. In moments of duress or battle, Kurama (who had yet to fully suppress his Yoko side) would transform into Yoko. After meeting Yomi, he has apparently improved his strength greatly to lower S levels. However against the mid S-class Shachi, Kurama transforms into his Yoko self and easily overpowers Shachi. Kurama becomes Yomi's new right hand man. After the death of Raizen, Yusuke comes to Yomi's territory with a proposition: a new tournament which will determine the ruler of the whole of Makai. Yomi accepts and the tournament begins. Kurama's team (made up of the surviving members of Teams Masho, Uratogi, and Rokuyokai from the Dark Tournament) qualifies easily in the preliminary round, but after the team faces stronger opponents, each member is defeated one by one. Then, Kurama fights Shigure, "The Demon Surgeon." Though Kurama is in the lower S-class power level, he is no match for Shigure. During a fierce battle, he transforms into an upper S-class Yoko and easily uses super speed to avoid Shigure, but willfully transforms back into his human self, stating that he will not resort to using that power. Despite being weaker than Shigure, he is able to cause the large dormant tree they are using as an arena to bloom, having merged it with a cherry tree seed before the fight began. This causes Shigure to lose the match as his weapon gets stripped from him, giving Kurama the win. However, Kurama is unable to continue with the tournament and withdraws due to severe injuries. After his fight with Shigure, he decides to not look to the past for answers, but to the future. With his loyalty to his human mother and his friends, he leaves his Youko lifestyle behind, as he tells Yomi. He decides to return home to live out his human life. Kurama rejecting his yoko nature, however, was an addition made exclusively on the animation. In the original story told by the manga, such resolve was not shown or hinted just like his fight against Shigure. After the end of the Makai/Demon World Tournament, Kurama goes back to Ningenkai and gets a job at his stepfather's company. He lives like a normal human being from then on alongside Yusuke, Kuwabara, and his other friends - except for Hiei, who decides to continue living in Makai, according to the anime. In the manga, which deviates after the end of the Makai Tournament, he does not entirely give up the demon world or the detective lifestyle as Yusuke frequently calls on him for help in solving the cases for his Spirit Detective business. There is a severe change of story after the Three Kings Saga, mainly in that not only does the Kekkai Barrier come down, but demons pop up in human world frequently, often appearing on talk shows (Koto, Juri and Ruka from the Dark Tournament are seen being interviewed by a popular TV host). In a bonus OVA he is shown to enter the second Makai Tournament along side Yusuke, Hiei, and Kuwabara. Techniques/Moves *'Rose Whip' (薔薇棘鞭刃 [ローズ･ウイップ], Bara Kyoku Ben Jin ['Rōzu Uippu']'', literally translated as ''Rose Thorn Whip-Blade): Kurama's signature technique, where he uses his demon energy to grow a rose from its seed state to its flowering state and then into a long thorny whip that's capable of cutting even through steel. :*'Rose Whiplash' (華厳裂斬枝, Kagon Retsuzanshi, translated as Flower of Severely-Torn Limbs, Thorn Whiplash in the Viz translation): Kurama swiftly slashes the whip in multiple directions. *'Rose Whip Thorn Wheel' (風華円舞陣, Fūka Enbu Jin, translated as Breezing Petals Waltz Formation): Kurama draws the Rose Whip and swings it around him in a circle, as rose petals scatter around and stun his opponents, while the wheel created from the whip unleashes cresent-shaped energy blades. :*Also called Petals and Thorns; here, however, a whirlwind of rose petals materializes in the palm of Kurama's hand and then swirl around him. If an opponent/attacker gets within a certain range, the petals attack and rip them to shreds. *'Seed of the Death Plant' (死招き草, Shimaneki Sō, translated as Death-Inviting Grass): This is a small seed that Kurama plants in his opponent's body and can be manipulated using his demon energy. After it has had enough time to secure its roots within the victim's body, the seed kills the victim. Only used successfully on Roto during the Dark Tournament, unsuccessfully on Karasu, and as an impromptu blade when fighting Toya. *'Death Tree' (食妖植物, Shoku Yō Shokubutsu, translated as Devourer Demon Plant): This is a carnivorous tree with an acidic saliva that strikes anything that moves. Only used to intimidate Ura urashima during the Dark Tournament. *'Ojigi Plant' (魔界の御辞儀草, Makai no Ojigi Sō, translated as Demon Realm Bow Grass): A plant indigenous to South America. When grown with demon energy, it mutates into a creature that responds to movements or heat by closing its leaves around its prey and crushing it to death. Arguably, it can be called the Demon World version of the Mimosa plant. Only used to try and kill Karasu during the Final Round of the Dark Tournament. * Bloodsucking Plant (吸血植物, Kyūketsu Shokubutsu, translated as Blood-Drinking Weed): A special Demon World plant that can attach itself to its victim and drain them of their blood before blossoming into a beautiful, rose-like, flower once it has drained enough blood from its victim. Only used to kill Karasu during the Final Round of the Dark Tournament. *'Lamp Weed' (アカル雑草, Akaru Zassō, translated as Bright Weed): Plants that act as markers for Kurama to find his way back. Used during the Chapter Black saga, as the Spirit Detectives make their way down to where the tunnel to Demon World is being opened. *'Sinning Tree' (邪念樹, Janen Ju, translated as Tree of Depravity): The tree responds to the memories of the victims, ensnaring the consciousness of the victim with hallucinations of wickedness, and forces them to replay their fears as it feeds off of its victims' life force, never stopping until its host is dead. If, for some reason, the victim continues to struggle, then the tree will generate extra tendrils in order to restrain its victim as it feeds. Only used once, to trap Elder Toguro for eternity, near where the tunnel to Demon World is being opened. *'Leaf of a Plant' (浮葉科の魔界植物, Fuyōka no Makai Shokubutsu, translated as Floating Leaves from Demon Realm Plant): This plant appears as "wings", similar to that of a butterfly, on Kurama's back that double as a glider. First used to break the descent of Kuwabara's, Hiei's, and his, falls while attempting to avenge Yusuke's death in Demon World. Is used later on to keep him in the air as Yusuke and Sensui clash in Demon World. *'The Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine' (樹霊妖斬拳, Juryō Yōzan Ken, translated as Wood Spirit Demon Beheading Fist): Similar to the Rose Whip in that it is composed of a vine with thorns, but this time it grows around Kurama's arm and is wielded as a sword-like weapon. Used only as an attempt to attack Sensui when they were fighting in Demon World. Anime-Exclusive Techniques *'Okunenju Roots' (憶念樹, Okunen Ju, translated as Memory-Recall Tree): Kurama can control the roots of the Okunenju and use them to attack his opponent. The plant, however, takes millennia to grow and requires a large amount of energy to manipulate. Kurama's match against Shigure during the Makai Tournament took place on top of an Okunenju that Yoko Kurama had planted there thousands of years ago. Kurama was therefore able to take control of the entire arena and overwhelm Shigure. Movie-Exclusive Techniques *'Bamboo Plant': An unnamed technique that first transformed into a spear, and then into an entire forest of pikes that transformed into a bamboo forest. Used by Kurama in the second movie in order to kill an unnamed Netherworld God that impersonated his former partner Kuronue. Manga-Exclusive Techniques *'Pseudo-Creature': Seen only in the manga set after the Demon World Tournament, this parasite merges with its host on the cellular level, instinctively repairing any damage done to the host body. Unless the host's brain is destroyed, the host will stay in a 'half-life' for a very-long time. Its appearance is similar to that of the Sinning Tree, which begs the question of whether or not the two plants are somehow related. :*Hiei gave the slave trader Chikou, Mukuro's childhood abuser, one of these creatures (which Kurama had supplied him with). He then delivered Chikou's incapacitated body to Mukuro, for her to mutilate as she saw fit; a demonic version of therapy, so to speak. *'Parrot Grass': Kurama uses this shrub in order to deceive a group of religious terrorists who had taken the Gates of Judgment hostage and used radio check-ins to make sure nothing was going wrong. 'Trivia' *Kurama made a cameo appearance in Yoshihiro Togashi's second, hit manga series Hunter X Hunter. In Volume 8, Chapter 69, as a action figure along side Yusuke and Hiei, inside the room of Miruki Zoldyck. *'Kurapika Kuratra', one of the main characters in the manga series Hunter X Hunter, is largely based off of Kurama: #Hurapika is a cunning, master strategist who always planed his attacks in advance. #He is a boy prodigy who rapidly learned to control his superhuman abilities. #Highly intelligent with a wide knowledge of the world. #His androgynous appearance has lead readers to wonder if he was in fact a girl. In one chapter, he is mistaken as being a girl by his archenemy. #Kimono style robes are his main form of clothing. #A calm, collective and friendly personality that belied his sinister, wrathful and hateful feelings towards all does who had wronged or hurt him in the past. #He bared a profound feeling of respect and platonic love towards his friends and family, and would never sacrifice there lives in order to achieve his own, personal goals. #A master martial artist. #Just as Kurama could manipulate plants in order to immobilize, capture, attack and kill his enemies, Kurapika had the ability to conjure up a chain from his aura, which was used for the same purposes as Kurama's plants where. #The same way Kurama was ranked second place for most popular character in the Yu Yu Hakusho manga, Kurapika was also voted on second place in the Hunter X Hunter popularity contest. References Category:Characters Category:Demons